The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with two major arms and a number minor arms or spurs. The Perseus Spiral Arm, with a radius of approximately 10,700 parsecs, is located between the minor Cygnus and Carina–Sagittarius Arms. It is named after its proximity to the constellation Perseus.
There is speculation that the local spur known as the Orion–Cygnus Arm, which includes the solar system and Earth and is located inside of Perseus Arm, is a branch of it, but this is unconfirmed.
The Perseus Spiral arm contains a number of Messier objects: